


whispering colors

by civilcarter



Category: VIXX, Whisper - VIXX LR (Music Video)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 11:59:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15662808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/civilcarter/pseuds/civilcarter
Summary: in which taekwoon lives in shades of blue and finds out red wasn’t that scary after all.





	whispering colors

> _fear no darkness, darling_
> 
> _daylight may be where dreams come true,_
> 
> _but the dark of the night is where dreams are made._
> 
> — (l.p)

 

— taekwoon's apartment

uptown seoul, 4:16 pm

saturday, october 14th 2017

 

"will you be there?" hakyeon asks, grabbing his coat and throwing it over his shoulders. it's november already; outside, the weather gets colder by hour. he's staring at taekwoon whom, on the other side of the room, stares at the tv and still processes the question made by his friend. he takes a couple of seconds to remember what "there" means, and to what hakyeon is referring to.

"i don't know. maybe" he answers, simply. his eyes don't even leave the flat screen, and hakyeon's already unlocking the door. both of them know, by his tone, that  _maybe_  means  _hell no_.

"i'm coming for you before going. it's jaehwan's party, taekwoon! you have to come with me" hakyeon says. taekwoon nods while mentally rolling his eyes at the thought. not that jaehwan's a bad person - he's actually a good friend and a funny party partner; but today, he just doesn't feel like leaving the couch, not even for a coffee (which actually is kind of weird). hakyeon often tries to lure him out when he notices the odd behavior, and does succeed sometimes. but today, taekwoon just wants to become a part of the furniture.

taekwoon wants to answer. but there's nothing he can say to make hakyeon understand his current mood. so he simply let's the boy leave. "we're going, whether you like it or not" the elder says, before closing the door behind him.

taekwoon sighs.  _fuck, why did i even let him blabber about this stupid party?_

the sunlight gets inside the whole room lazily. the light blue shade of the walls is calming under the rays, reflecting the easiness throughout the whole apartment. at the tiny and barely tidy bedroom, the scene repeats itself. it's cozy and small and blue - just like everything else in taekwoon's life.

hakyeon says that his constant blue state will drive him insane someday. but again, that's hakyeon we're talking about: he's happy and electric and funny and  _yellow_. not those weird and artificial tones of yellow, but a pure and bright shade that reminds taekwoon of a song he heard when he was a child about the day the sun fell in love with the moon. hakyeon's the sun - and, even though the sun annoys taekwoon sometimes, he likes it.

people often remind taekwoon of colors. he doesn't know for how long he's been making these associations, but he knows his mother is a strong yet light shade of purple while dad is more of a baby green. hongbin, his younger brother, is gray.

colors mean things. at least, that's what mom said. ever since taekwoon told her she was purple, and a big smile grew in her face, she told him to trust what the colors told him. artificial tones are not to be messed with; deep shades often mean trouble. he couldn't actually see them, but he just knew it, just how he knew usual, common things of life. even though his color gut rarely failed, he never actually told anyone about it. only mom, dad, hongbin and hakyeon knew.

he rarely found two people with the same color. apart from some very special situations, people often beared their own shade, ranging from the lightest yellow to the darkest violet. his grandad (mama's dad), for example, had almost the same shade as taekwoon. grandpa's blue was just a little bit stronger than his, but still a beautiful tone, almost like the sky right before the sun sets. that was, partly, reassuring, mainly because blue shades were the hardest ones to find, and knowing there were other people out there who felt like him was, in the least, calming.

grandma was red. a strong tone. not dark enough to mean danger, but bright enough to understand why his mama was such a vibrant shade of purple. sometimes, there are patterns - as in blue + red = purple, or yellow + blue = green. sometimes, what came out of the mix was a completely different shade. colors do tend to complement each other. but the result isn't always the expected.

—

taekwoon spends the rest of the day between hoping hakyeon doesn't really show up and wanting time to stop so he would never arrive.

unfortunately, around 10pm there's a knocking in the door and taekwoon knows it's him. he had eventually left the couch to cook something and eat before going to bed. he had a test next week and wondered if it would be that bad if he used the excuse of needing to study tomorrow so hakyeon left him alone. he may be a music major and children education minor, but he’s an overachiever - so studying was almost all he did during the week.

hakyeon let himself in, took his shoes off and closed the door behind him before staring at the room and not finding the boy at his usual spot. he noticed the kitchen lights on and followed the smell of freshly cooked ramen, finding taekwoon with a bowl in hand, pouring some food before grabbing his hashis.

"you're determined at taking me, i see" the youngest says, before filling his mouth with pasta.

"and you're determined at not going" hakyeon answers. "which sucks, by the way".

"does it? how about you insisting on this?".

"damn, someone's not on a good mood today".

taekwoon walks towards the living room and crawls inside his nest again, staring at the tv for a second and trying to discover which drama was airing. hakyeon leans on top of the balcony that separates both rooms, observing the boy.

"i'm sorry, okay? i'm sorry for being a nice friend and wanting to take my best friend out of his melancholic house and-"

"oh no, don't even start it. emotional blackmail is not gonna work this time" taekwoon answers. hakyeon smirks.

"boy, you know me so well".

"i'm your best friend, i know you better than your mom".

hakyeon laughs, moving towards the couch and siting by taekwoon. "well, you really are the only one who knows who my first kiss is and how embarrassing all of it was".

taekwoon smiles at the memory. "definitely not one of your best days".

"the worst, actually. did i tell you he's getting married in two weeks?"

taekwoon takes his eyes off of the television and looks at the eldest. "who? seohyun?"

"yes. he sent me an invitation and everything, since we work together now. him and eunbi seem like such a happy couple, it's actually really annoying sometimes".

"look who's talking" taekwoon swallows another much of ramen. "you and jaehwan are one of the most annoyingly cute and supportive couples i've ever seen. not even youngsun and byulyi top it".

"you think so? they're so cute and happy, i love seeing them work together. they're coming today, to the party. you probably didn't know that, because you're not going".

taekwoon laughs. "don't be too salty about it. it's not the end of the world, you know? i'm allowed to my own melancholy sometimes".

"i know, but... i hate seeing you all cocooned like that. i want you to experience things. you're in college, for fuck's sake. and besides, you've never been to jaehwan's parties. they're not loud and banging like those we went before. you'd actually enjoy it if you came with me".

taekwoon keeps staring at him, trying to find something, anything that indicated hakyeon could be lying about all of it. it wouldn't be the first time - and probably not the last as well. taekwoon does know when he's lying, though; and he seemed to be telling the truth, at least until where taekwoon is able to read him. it is actually true, he'd never been to any of jaehwan's parties. he was expecting something like the usual loud-music-overly-drunk-people-no-space type of party. far from him to try and downgrade jaehwan's abilities to be a good host - he's just never been at one of his parties before.

maybe, just maybe, it could be a good idea.

"he's invited just a small group of people from college, some of his acapella group friends and some guys to take care of the music. it'll be outside the city, at an old warehouse his parents own. it'll be your moody type of party, you'll love it. please, taekwoonie! come with me!"

_shit, how can hakyeon be this persuasive?_

"if i come - and this is just one big and fat if, will you stop trying and drag me with you to your other parties?"

hakyeon smiles brightly.  _bingo._

"i pinky promise. does that mean you're coming tonight?"

taekwoon stares at him with a poker face for about three seconds before answering. "let me put some decent clothes on. we'll be out in ten".

—

— lee's warehouse;

outskirts of seoul, 11:25 pm

saturday, october 14th 2017

 

it was cold outside. not enough to get taekwoon to shiver, but enough for him to start regretting not bringing a coat - or leaving the blankets, for the matter. it's been a while since he arrived with hakyeon, and so far things weren't that bad. hakyeon wasn't lying when he said jaehwan's party was smaller and calmer, and the people scattered all throughout the warehouse chatted idly between mixed drinks and high pitched laughs.

still, it wasn't taekwoon's cup of tea.

he left a little while ago with an excuse to call someone. he should be back already, since it's been twenty minutes already and people (if they actually noticed what he said) should be wondering what's taking him so long. to be fair, he wonders if they noticed him leaving at all.

the music is not that loud, but can be heard from the outside, a little muffled by the walls and the almost deafening silence of seoul's countryside. a few cars pass by every once in a hour, probably wondering what could be happening inside the place and why there's someone leaning at the fence staring at them with a red plastic cup in his hands. taekwoon smirks at the mental image and wonders if he does seem as weird as he thinks while staring at the silhouette of the city, lit up by neon signs, lamp posts and skyscrapers.

"i was starting to think you got kidnapped after leaving us" a sweet voice filled his ears. he turns around and finds a small girl, blonde hair and a bright smile, staring at him kindly.

"i just... didn't feel like staying in there" taekwoon answers, turning his back to the warehouse once more when he notices she's walking towards him. byulyi takes a place beside him, leaning at the fence as well. "being social like that is not exactly my favorite thing to do".

"i wondered" she says, sipping from her bottle. "hakyeon said to not worry if you did that. i can tell them you left, if you want".

"no, don't worry. let them be, they probably didn't even notice me there to begin with".

"i did. so did yongsun".

"you already know me. it's not fair".

she smiled. "i'm just kidding. besides, they did notice you left. especially wonshik".

wonshik's features popped inside taekwoon's mind. the red, blue and purple lighting of the place illuminated his skin and he glowed under it, so enticing it was hard not to stare. such a curious being, under taekwoon's curious eyes.

"why would he?" taekwoon frowned, looking down at byulyi. she smiled, a laugh erupting from her mouth as she saw taekwoon's expressions.

"you're a heartbreaker, mr. jung" she replied, in between laughs. taekwoon elbowed her arm and she laughed harder at his reaction. "don't be mad at me for being sincere!"

"shut up" he said in a funny tone, smirking. taekwoon rolled his eyes right after.

silence fell between them for some seconds after that. byulyi was the one to break, a minute or so later. "i'll be heading back before yongsun starts wondering if i got kidnapped too. you wanna go?"

taekwoon ponders for a second. "no, i'll stay here for a while longer. i'll be there soon, no need to worrt about me running away or being kidnapped anymore".

byulyi smiles. "see you in there".

taekwoon pays attention to the noise her boots make while coliding against the soil. he can tell when she's already inside by the change to concrete.

byulyi is the same age as him and has the same major, too. when taekwoon first got to college, his only actual friend was hakyeon. while the weeks passed, moon byulyi's light shade of pink seemed gentle enough for taekwoon to try and ask her for her notes on the class he missed due to being sick. not that his other classmates were bad omens or anything; there was just something about byulyi's baby pink that induced him to it. she smiled and borrowed them to him, without even questioning. lending notes lead to chitchatting during class, which lead to chatting during study afternoons at the library, which lead to byulyi being his only friend inside his major.

taekwoon's mind wondered inside again. the same image of wonshik sat on the other side of the conversation, his legs crossed and his skin glowing under the stroboscopic lights flooded his senses and taekwoon asked himself what was there about the boy that made him so appealing. it could be the fact that he's one of the strongest shades of red taekwoon has ever sensed, and that was partly disconcerting, partly alluring. it could be just because of his _persona_ , always so relaxed and sure of himself it felt as if he had an aura of something too difficult to explain but too easy to be felt around him. taekwoon could just be going insane, of course. still, there was something there, difficult to fathom but certainly present.

he blinks hard, trying to shoo the thoughts away.  _stop being a fucking creep, control your senses_. he takes the last sip of his cup and stares at the starry sky and bright city in the horizon before deciding to head back inside for something else.

—

— nirvana cafe;

downtown seoul, 4:17pm

sunday, october 15th 2017

 

“i didn’t see you leaving last night” hakyeon comments. taekwoon shrugs.

the cafe is a nice place. neither crowded nor empty, neither small nor big. hakyeon elected it as their official meeting place, especially for when he has something really important to discuss with taekwoon. being the bookworm he is, it’s difficult for hakyeon to find the boy most of the time. it’s always a big mystery – is he at the library, at the apartment, at the music studio, or is he simply wondering around town while ignoring his phone?

that why, when he needs something, he simply calls and announces he’s already waiting. hasn’t failed so far.

“i asked byul to bring me home. didn’t wanna disturb you and your boyfriend” he answers. the sound of the bell at the door of the café grabs his attention, but not enough to divert it from hakyeon’s happy expression. “he seemed really happy you were there, by the way”.

“you think so? he said he loved it and will probably do it again once his parents leave town again” he explains, with such a happy smile it’s hard not to notice the light pink on his cheeks. “you’re invited, as usual. and so will be wonshik”.

taekwoon chokes on his latte. hakyeon smirks. no one, other than the latter, seems to notice taekwoon’s reaction.

“what?”

“what what? you thought i hadn’t noticed?”

taekwoon lets go of the fork and places it on top of the small porcelain plate. his look at hakyeon says nothing but a mix of _i hate you_ and _i don’t know what you’re talking about_.

“notice what?”

“c’mon, you thought i wasn’t watching? the way you looked at him. as if there was something special about him. did you two…?”

“no, no” taekwoon frowns while answering. hakyeon laughs at his expression. “no, god. we barely spoke, actually. he’s just…”

“handsome? breathtaking? talented? everything you’ve ever dreamed about mixed in a single person?”

“he’s red, hakyeon. he’s _red_ ”.

hakyeon’s playful expression vanishes. the shit-eating grin he beared before disappeared in a heartbeat and his composure follows the same reaction. “red as in… red? _really_ red?”

taekwoon nods a _yes_.

“oh”.

taekwoon looks at him in annoyance. “that’s all you have to say? after all the teasing, all you have for me is _oh_?”

“are you sure about it? is he really _that_ red?”

taekwoon nods again.

“that suddenly makes a lot of sense. that’s why you reacted the way you did”.

“no shit, sherlock”.

“do you think he could be… something? you said it yourself, that red often means something more”.

taekwoon lets out a sigh. hakyeon realizes he sounds and looks in distress.

“i… don’t know. i don’t even know if i’ll ever see him again”.

“of course you will. that’s why i’m here, i have news”.

taekwoon frowns. “what?”

“remember how you said you wanted someone to share your apartment with? because your parents couldn’t afford it alone?”

he nods.

“jaehwan told me yesterday wonshik is looking for someone to share an apartment with him. he needs something near your college campus, because apparently he’ll start working at the music studios. and jaehwan kinda gave him your phone number and said he could call you on monday”.

if hakyeon could describe taekwoon’s reaction while he spoke, it would be something between the lines of utter desperation and silent pleadings of help. his whole body seemed to react at hakyeon’s voice, shrinking at the booth’s couch as if he heard the worst news of his life. hakyeon suddenly realizes this might not have been the best way to break the news to taekwoon.

“i can call jaehwan and ask him to say to wonshik you’re no longer available for renting. i’m sorry, i shoudn’t have done it, i really didn’t mean to –“

“it’s okay”.

“i’m really sorry, i- what?”

“it’s okay, hakyeon. once he calls, i’ll talk to him and sort it out” he sounds apathetic, even though he’s doing his best to be perceived otherwise. “don’t worry”.

“are you sure?”

he’s red. oh god, he’s _red_.

“yes”.


End file.
